As most of you know, from my tweets, a check-in from the emergency room on FourSquare and some post on Facebook that early Saturday evening we had a bit of high drama at Texas FlyLines world HQ. Below are the details of what happened and some comments and “Thanks” from me on the overwhelming show of support we’ve received from all of our friends (further defined later), family, co-workers and neighbors.
What Happened: At around 7:30 pm on Saturday our evening was progressing nicely… I had steaks on the grill, had just cracked open a nice Breckenridge Autumn Ale, it was still a balmy mid 70 degrees with a warm south breeze blowing! Basically your perfect summer evening (in November)! My wife was sitting in the living room, pounding away on her thesis, while watching some TV. I’ve mentioned before, that we may be the most boring married couple without kids EVER! Sounds nice doesn’t it?
At around 7:50, things go wrong – she calls me in to review something she had written. And then, with both of us less than 10′ from the front door, we hear a loud crash (neighbors heard it in their houses) of the front door flying open, slamming against the wall, and the door jam, frame and lock assemblies exploding!
Both of us stunned… It takes us a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened! My wife turns immediately and looks at the open front door, I look at the dogs then the door and then run outside into the driveway to see, well what, I don’t really know! I was just thinking that whoever kicked in the door and ran couldn’t have gotten far and that maybe I could at least see where they went or what type of car they jumped in.
When I got to the driveway, I saw 2 figures in the shadows near the golf course cart path. And 1 tall athletic looking male, late teens, maybe early twenties, running down the street, away from our house, towards his *accomplices*. I yell “HEY” the guy turns and looks at me then yells to the other 2 to “GO GO GO”! I take off chasing after them and they run onto the dark unlighted golf course… Full sprint, down the driveway, into the street! Where in NOT my most graceful and shining feats of athleticism, I promptly tripped, slammed shoulder first into the pavement, rolled over and pounded my head onto the asphalt! Completely pumped full of adrenalin, I jumped up and took off chasing again… Made it about 30 steps and realized something was wrong, bad wrong! My shoulder was making ugly noises, bones scraping together and torn muscles and tendons noises, noises a body shouldn’t make!
911 was called, Williamson County Sheriffs deputies showed up, no sign of the thugs was seen or discovered and an hour later I finally went to the Emergency room! A sad, long story that took place in a quite, safe neighborhood where golfing accidents are the norm… Not home invasions!
The rest as they is “Broken”! For me, a fractured clavicle (collarbone), bruised and battered shoulder and a nasty bump on the noggin! For us, a broken sense of security, a shattered front door and feeling of invaded privacy. For a neighborhood full of decent law abiding families and now *friends*, those same feelings of loss of security and their privacy invaded!
To get to the point and to that further definition of *friend* I mention in paragraph 1… I’ll give you a minute, go to http://dictionay.com and search for the word *friend* (hold music playing) okay your back! What did you find… 6 or 7 entries that read like this “a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.” Right? While that’s true, I have a different definition… A friend is anyone willing to step out of their world and show affection, empathy, sorrow, HELP, congratulations and again HELP, when it is most needed! In my book, even perfect strangers can be friends! I have “friends” people I see and talk with on a regular basis & and I have an even larger group of friends through Social Media that, like it or not, I consider my friends too. I’ve met some of you in person, the ones I haven’t shaken hands with… Maybe someday! This is the group of friends that I want to say THANKS to here!
If you’re reading this there is a high likelihood that you clicked a link on either of my Twitter profiles or on Facebook… So THANK YOU for the show of support since Saturday!
You may remember that the title of this is “Broken”. Sure my collarbone is “broken”, our front door is “broken” but my faith in humanity as a whole and my friends is NOT “broken”! As a show of gratitude and after my shoulder heals up… If you need HELP please, don’t hesitate to ask! When the time comes, (it will come) this line of communication will NOT be BROKEN!
Thanks for playing along friends, in six to eights week let’s go fly fishing!
